segway, what?

Typically on New Year's Eve, we get all fancy and go out for crab legs (it is crab season, after all).  This year however, was no ordinary year.  This year was pushed our limits to do what Steve Wozniak likes to do...Segway all about town. Woo-Hoo! As scared as I was, (and Mike was too, it wasn't just me who was a pansy) this tour turned out to be our absolute favorite tour that we've done in San Francisco (and believe me, we've pretty much done them all).

We did the 5:00pm tour, which meant that it was dark when we were on the streets.  With all the New Years Eve crazies milling about, Mike and I were a bit concerned that there might be some issues on the streets - on a segway, however the tour sticks to quieter streets near North Beach / Fisherman's wharf, and when we were on Embarcadero, we rode in the bike lane, so it turned out that all of our worries were unnecessary.

Fun facts were learned from our boy Mark (the tour guide):

1. Don't come to San Francisco craving clam chowder...It's not local (remember what I told you at the beginning, it's crabs, we are crab people, not clam people. Go to the other coast for the clams.)  So when you stop by the guy that sells clam chowder in Boudin bread bowls, apparently that guy gets his clam chowder from Campbell's soup. Yep, sad but true. Now go eat some crab legs. Those babies are delicious!

2. We have local parrots that live on the Telegraph hill.  Apparently these parrots were either released or escaped into the wild when they were on their way to a pet store years ago and have called Telegraph Hill home ever since. 

This fun fact is news to me.  It might be my most favorite fact I've learned on any tour. I cannot wait to go in search of these birds next time I'm in the city. From what I understand, it's not too hard, but I'm going to make a day of it, because there was some good shopping I saw in North Beach on the segway tour...but that's for another day o' blogging - you know, parrots and shopping go hand-in-hand.

3. I have no other fun facts. I stopped listening when I heard that there are wild parrots living in the city.

This tour is one that I would totally recommend doing.  The first time that I tried to step off my segway, I managed to send it flying and the employee caught it before the un-manned segway named U Smile went for a ride straight into the line of people waiting for the cable car.    So, if I can do it, I am sure that you can too. We had so much fun. 

[this is my husband's "Holy - $#*% - this - thing - scares - the - hell - out - of - me - face"]

[each of the Segways had a name...Mike's "Happy Hour" had a way cooler name than my "U Smile", I didn't take a picture of U Smile. It took me a while to smile, I was a bit FREAKED out, but then I mastered the learning curve and I "U Smiled" my way all around the wharf.] 

 [who doesn't love a reflective vest?!]

twenty.twelve

Happy 2012! I know, I know, 11 days into the new year and this blog has been silent.  My apologies. The weather has been so beautiful that as soon as I'm finished working on my computer, Barkers and I skee-daddle outside to enjoy the unseasonably dry and warm weather...I love this weather!

These pictures were taken on the Bay bridge on our way into the city on New Year's Eve for our super - fun Segway ride.  More to come on that tomorrow...

I work from home. I put more miles on my shoes per day than my car.  (Read between the lines here people, this girl doesn't get out much.) So every so often, like EVERY weekend, I make Mike get in the car and go for drive, pop out of the tunnel and BAM! This is what we see. 

I love it.

Really, it's wonderful to remind ourselves that we live in a really cool spot.  We may be far away from all of our family and friends, but views like this make it really spectacular to enjoy while we are here.

a day with nothing to do

You know what is so cool about living in the bay area? Well, let me tell you...when you have nothing to do, you jump in the car and are at the beach in no time at all. It's windy and cold but HELLO! It's the Pacific Ocean! Sweet!

So last Saturday, with nothing on our agenda, we jumped in the car and away we went to the ocean. The waves were great and there were quite a few surfers trying to catch a wave or two.

And then after about 15 minutes of watching the surfers, we become chilled to the bone and we needed to make the decision to either put on 12 more layers or just get back in the car and get out of the wind. Well, we decided to hit the road (because we are midwesterners that have totally become wimps) and go for a walk in the city. The weather was great and the crowds had gone home and instead of focusing on all the great people watching that you can do in the city, I took pictures of the buildings like this one below of The Palace Hotel. The Palace Hotel is a real beauty, some day, if you are lucky, I'll blog about the inside of this hotel. The chandeliers are to die for. I hate to leave you hanging but I don't have any pictures of the inside, so until another weekend excursion, you'll just have to be satisified with the top of the building.